Policy Address 2026: Hong Kong moves forward with shift to digital trade

Hong Kong is accelerating its digital trade initiatives by expanding paperless trade documentation and freight data sharing platforms, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said in the policy address today.

The government confirmed its goal of granting electronic trade documents the same legal validity as traditional paper documents in a response to the Legislative Council in April. 

“The government will introduce a bill on facilitating the digitalisation of ‘business‑to‑business’ trade documents,” Lee said.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched the Cargox  pilot programme in May in collaboration with 21 major banks and leveraged the previously established Commercial Data Interchange infrastructure, with both programmes facilitating digital trade.

Philip Li, manager of ICBC (Asia) Market Financing Department, said banks have more channels to access business data from small and medium-sized enterprises through these digital trade information platforms.

“These third-party digital platforms add greater credibility to corporate information,” Li said.

According to HKMA's research, the infrastructure narrows information gaps between banks and SMEs, helping smaller firms, especially young startups, obtain better loan terms with lower interest rates and less collateral required.

Dong Xiaole, founder of Fortunae Limited, said everything in the trading process is becoming digitised, but the number of steps involved may have increased.

“For instance, simply stamping a document is so easy, just one quick action, whereas electronic seals require more creation and verification steps,” Dong said.

Chan Ka Ming, the Chief Operation Officer of Meat the Next Research and Development Company Limited, said when using electronic systems to process food customs declaration documents, it is necessary to backtrack and redo steps after an initial attempt, resulting in repetitive actions.

“Regarding the CDI and Cargox launched by HKMA, we have only looked into it so far and haven't actually tried using these tools yet,” Chan added.

According to the policy address, digitisation of trade documents aims to reduce the administrative costs of businesses and improve traceability of trading activities.

“Many enterprises believe that as long as they are making money, that is enough, so why bother changing their tools?” Dong questioned.

“Digitalisation has not been widely implemented currently,” Dong added.

“For small and medium-sized enterprises to realise returns, the data trading ecosystem needs to mature further,” Li said. 

“It is only in its infancy currently and platforms offer merely isolated data points, it’s hard to draw more comprehensive conclusions,” Li added.

SMEs have long been one of the key pillars of Hong Kong's commerce and industry, accounting for 98% of all registered enterprises in the city, according to the report of Hong Kong General Chamber of Small and Medium Business.